I am a PhD candidate in Population Biology investigating intraspecific variation in thermal tolerance in two species of Acropora in the Cook Islands. My projects look to assess both simple and complex genomic architectures that are implicative in differential bleaching and mortality during marine heatwaves. As part of this work, I am investigating the role of fluorescent proteins in coral responses to heat stress and how genomic variation within such proteins may grant greater thermal tolerance. I am broadly interested in how fine-scale variation can impose dramatic differences in tolerance across seascapes and navigating from phenotype to protein to gene to SNP and back to discover life’s most important sources of variation in our changing world.
My mood is directly correlated with my proximity to the ocean. I love tide-pooling, diving, snorkeling, camping, and hiking. Apart from nature related activities, I have 2 tuxedo cats named Watson and Percival and enjoy stationery, playing piano, and reading.
Website: https://themindfulacademic.blog
Education
MS in Biology | University of Guam | 2022
BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity | University of California Davis | 2019